CoronaVinyl Day 386 (F): Centerfield by John Fogerty

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "F," and I went with John Fogerty's third solo studio album, 1985's Centerfield.

Fogerty, of course, is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the lead singer and main songwriter for Creedence Clearwater Revival.  After CCR broke up, he released solo albums in 1973 and 1975, producing three Top 40 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, but neither of the albums went higher than #47 on the Billboard album chart.

He then took nearly a decade off of recording because of some issues with his record label, but once those issues got sorted out, he came back with a vengeance.  Fogerty played all the instruments on Centerfield, putting out a solid album of heartland rock in an era when heartland rock was huge, thanks to the likes of Springsteen, Mellencamp, and Seger.  

Centerfield went to #1 on the Billboard album chart, which is still by far Fogerty's best-charting solo album.  "The Old Man Down The Road" went to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (his highest-charting solo song on either chart), "Rock and Roll Girls" went to #20 and #5 on those respective charts, and the title track went to #44 and #4.

The Spotify version of the album has two bonus tracks, both covers.  One is a version of Rockin' Sidney Simien's "My Toot Toot" (Simien plays accordion on the track), and the other is a version of Teddy Vann and Nathaniel Nathan's 1950s doo wop song "I Confess."

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Rock and Roll Girls"
The second-biggest hit from the album, "Rock and Roll Girls" is a catchy power pop throwback, with plenty of sax.  This all makes sense, as Fogerty was heavily inspired by the sax-heavy 1962 instrumental "Wild Weekend" by The Rockin' Rebels.  If you listen to that song, you can certainly hear the influence.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "I Can't Help Myself"
This one's an uptempo poppy rock song.  I was going to say this reminds me of a CCR song, but that is probably just because I can't separate Fogerty's distinctive voice from CCR.  On second thought, this does not remind me of a CCR song.  I'm sorry you just wasted time reading the last three sentences.